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About this project

I've posted a large portion of the short story that inspired this project below to give every one a feel for the characters of the novel and a basis of the story line of the novel. It is the first draft and unedited, so be prepared for typos. Everyone that sponsors this project will receive the full edited and complete short story. Thanks for giving me a chance.

Lets see, this really all started with a discussion between me and my younger brother. We were trying to create the perfect monster. Not just for fun, we aren't quite that nerdy, but it was for an RPG.

I'm not the greatest artest, but with a bit of refining I'm sure I can please the masses

So from there I wrote the short story below. My goal in this project is to raise enough money to not only hire an LSU art student to help illustrate a graphic novel based off of the short story, but also enough money to produce a starting number of books to sell.

The graphic novel will pretty much start at the same place as the short story but continue on into the adventure of the 4 main characters. Its fun, full of action and just enough comedy to keep me satisfied. I really hope all of you like the story, and that you you decide to help me get this project off the ground. Thanks again to all of you.

------------------- Zombie Ninjas The Short Story ---------------------

The world has been taken over by flesh eating bitchass
zombies. It sucked. I was 16 when it started, and hadn’t a clue in the world
how I’d survived longer than the first day. I couldn’t fight, I was a bedroom
recluse, and the only skill I had was first person shooter training on the 360.
Oh shit, now I know why I survived.

My dads gun. Top drawer, to the left, wrapped in the “I love
beer” shirt. It was a 45, 13 in the clip, 1 in the chamber, and a box of rounds
in the sock next to it.

“Dad? Hey Dad, I’ma borrow your gun, mk?” Of course he
wasn’t gonna answer. I had just spent 30 minutes being chased and chasing, both
of my parents through the house. They were locked in the bathroom moaning. I
figured since they raised me, that I wouldn’t killem. So I tossed our dog Juke in
there to givem something to gnaw on for a while, till I got my Zombie survival
kit together.

Fuckin hell yeah I had a Zombie survival kit! Ok I didn’t
have one put together per say, but I did already have everything planned out in
my head. I had taken like a dozen of those online Zombie Apocalypse test
thingies. Scored %99 survival rate on every one of them. I knew my shit. Even
if they weren’t real at the time.

Out the front door, looked to the left, then the right.
Planted a bullet between Mr. Simons eyes. That jackass wasn’t even a zombie,
but he ran over my bike the week before and tried to say it was my fault.
Jackass. From there, somehow, I had
managed to survive for 7 years in this god forsaken world. Lost my virginity to
a 87 year old on her death bed. What? The world was a different place. And I’d
never had sex before, so it was awesome. Like warm apple pie awesome. And lived
on a stricked diet of what the fuck ever I could get my hands on. What the hell
did you think I ate? The McDonalds only stayed opened for a few weeks after the
dead started walking. After that, I had to freaking ruff it.

Not many of the people I knew in my previous life survived
the first wave of Eaters. That’s what we called the Zombies on account of they
just fuckin ate anything that moved. I mean anything. I saw a car set in
neutral one day, and I swear a dozen of them spent over an hour trying to make
a meal of it.

Earl was the first stop I made on my way out of the
neighborhood. We had grown up together. I wouldn’t say he was my best friend,
but we were pretty close. When we were 13, we masturbated to the same picture
in one of my dads playboys to see who could finish first. I’m still not sure
who actually won, him for finishing first or me for taking longer to jack it,
less than a foot away from another guy holding his own cock in his hand. Its
odd though, because he still brings it up whenever he finishes first at
something. “Ha! Its just like when we were 13! I beat you again.” His door was opened, ‘crap’ I thought. This
wasn’t going to be a pretty site.

I pushed the door a bit more and squeezed in. Something was
blocking it from opening all the way. Pistol ready and pointed down I noticed
what it was. A body, all the way dead though. A gaping hole in the back of its
scull reassured me of that. “Earl!” I whispered as loud as I could, as if a
really loud whisper was less likely to rouse an eater from what it was doing in
order to persue me. I knew it wasn’t any better than just calling his name, but
Hollywood has it hammered in my head that no bad guys can ever hear a whisper,
no matter how loud it is. As long as I don’t let out the smallest most quiet
whimper or murmur, then they would never know I was here. “Ear…” fuck the
whisper shit “Earl!” I yelled his name. Not half a second later a mother fuckin
Eater was sprinting around the god damn corner going for my throat. By god,
Hollywood was right. Damn me for not believing in the whisper effect. My feet
were tangled in the corpse’s limbs. I went down fast and hard. My gun slipped
from my hand, hitting the ground and going off. I didn’t see what happened but
I figured it out when the limp corps of the eater hit the floor sliding and
stopping inches away from my face. A bullet hole through his cheek and out the
left side of his head. That shit was crazy.

“Zack?” I heard a hard whisper coming from inside the living
room.

“Yeah. Earl?” I hard whispered back.

“Dude what the fuck?” Still hard whispering, “ Haven’t you
ever watched a zombie movie? They apparently cant hear whispers, no matter how
loud they are. But make sure not to let out even the quietest-“

“Yes I freaking know that now.” I cut him off and picked
myself up, grabbing my gun. “Are your parents still alive?”

“Yeah, locked in the bathroom. I couldn’t bring myself to
killem’, cuz they raised me and all.”

“Ha ha, yeah mine too, where are you dude?” I peaked my head
around the corner. The living room seemed empty.

“…………” nothing from Earl for a few moments “I’m” he
hesitated “I’m in the couch bed man.”

“Whuhu what?”

“Im stuck. Climbed in here after locking the folks up and I
shot that one by the door. I heard more in the house so I figured itd be good
hiding. But now I’m stuck. Been like this for a few hours.” The couch bed
bottom moved as he spoke.

After getting Earl out and disposing of the last eater in
the house, which so happened to be a mostly naked Sara Holmes, we gathered a
few more supplies and hit the street again.

“Dude, did you see Sara’s tits? I touched one after we shot
her.” Fuckin Earl.

“Yeah man, she was an Eater though, so it doesn’t count” I
shook my head.

“Yes it does” Fuckin Earl, we were silent for a good while
after that.

………………………………………………

Its still unclear to me how we were able to survive for the
month and a half until we found refuge at a camp set up outside of the city. I
sort of made the whole thing a game. We came up with some real creative ways of
killing the eaters. Even tallied points for the most creative. I gotta hand the
best to Earl though. That motherfucker has some balls.

After days of building, what I can only describe as a giant
mouse trap. Earl came to me giggling and beckoning me to come watch. So I did.
He slid his pistol into a slot at the base of the area he was standing on and
picked up a rock. I stood silently behind a building corner. I saw him sling the
rock as hard as he could then drop trou. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw an
eater making her way towards him. Next thing I know the sick dipshit starts
spankin it. Hes going at it hard and fast too. His fat belly jiggling, an
involuntary truffle shuffle. As the chick zombie made it onto the contraption,
the giant spring loaded pole came slamming down atop her. And as her head hit
the pedestal, Earls pistol went off, blowing her brains out the back of her
head. “Damn it!” he whisper shouted “I couldn’t finish before my gun went off.”

In any case, we stumbled upon a campsite of about a hundred
survivors. It was nice, almost like a normal life again. Everyone had duties to
keep up within the camp, but aside from that, people just kind of came and went
throughout the day. If food was found, we all shared, and if liquor was found,
we all drank.

Earl and I had a camp set up next to K Gunther, a fat toad
looking man. His shirt was never dry and the foul smell that radiated from his
arm pits was better masked by the rotting flesh of Eaters. In the old life he
was a mob boss. Of course here he had no rule over anyone. The henchmen he did
have before had all been sacrificed in order to buy him time to escape himself.
Here he did little to carry his load, so he was what the group called the
“Cleaner”. It was an utterly disgusting job that was deemed his after his laziness
pissed off one too many in the site. He was sent to remove the zombies
entrails, body parts and whatever else mess there was from the booby traps set
around the camps parameters. It was by no means a pretty job. But I guess after
years of disposing of bodies in the mob, he had to of gotten used to it.

Caroline occupied the tent on the other side of us. She was
smoking hot. So so so hot. But a total bitch. Apparently no one sent her the
e-mail that the world had ended and being a bitch was no longer the cool thing
to do. But she also knew how to fight. And I think that made up for her
attitude. I watched her take out 4 walkers and an ass hole in 15 seconds
without a gun. Had to walk around with my hands cupped over my pants for half
an hour. In the old life she was married to some martial arts army general
superstar or something. She says he was killed by an Eater in his sleep, but
watching how she fights, I’m sure she had something to do with it.

And then there was Jimmy the crazy who occupied the space
directly across from us. I’ve laid eyes on Jimmys shlong on more than a couple
dozen instances. No one is really sure if he was like he is in the old life, or
if he just lost it one day before wondering into camp. He rarely spoke in
coherent sentences, and when he did it was always something about government
cover-ups and conspiracy theories. “It’s the damn Nazis again” or “I bet its
just another way for the insurance companies to make money” were a few of the conversations
I mistakenly got myself into by simply walking out of my tent. I just wish I
had listened to him the day he warned me without actually knowing so.

Again I had volunteered myself up to a babble conversation
with el loco Jimmy by walking out of my tent one night to take a piss. “You
ever think” he started the conversation, “about the fucking Ninjas man?” He
stood grabbing my arm lightly, a look of desperation in his eyes.

“Huh?”

“Yes the Ninjas! I mean think about it. There, lost in the
furthest reageons of the world, they take kids starting so young they cant even
talk. And they train them in the art of ninjaing.” Ninjaing he says. “For years
these kids are tortured and trained to be the deadliest assassins on the face
of the planet.”

“Jimmy, c’mon man, I know what a Ninja is” I turned to walk
away.

“What happens when one of them gets bitten?” It was that
sentence that plays over and over in my head still to this day. “ What happens
when the worlds deadliest assassin becomes the worlds deadliest monster?”

“Don’t worry Jimmy, I’m sure that if Ninjas still existed,
that they would be the ones least likely to be bitten. Now if you’ll excuse me,
I gotta take a piss.” The truth is, in the back of my head, what he said made a
logical point. What would happen? Here we were where zombies walk the earth
like New Yorkers during lunch time, why couldn’t Ninjas be real too? And if
they are real, what the shit happens if one or more get bitten? I mean
seriously, a freaking ninja by himself , with his throwing stars and curvy
sword, is fucking scary enough. But having something that deadly, become even
more deadly, could end the human race as we know it.

The thought lay nestled in my mind, while I made my way to
my pissing spot behind the tent.

“Damnit Earl!” There he was, pants around his ankles, wiener
in hand, peering into Caroline’s tent as she undressed for the evening.

“Shit dude, just gimme a couple more minutes” it was amazing
that he never stopped. Not even while making eye contact with me.

……………………………………………………………..

Life went on, shoot a zombie here, cut off a zombies head
there. Just regular everyday motions. I guess it had been a couple of years by
then. Our camp had grown a lot smaller. Some just decided to move on. Hoping
that there was a better life out there. Others were eaten. Poor Earl fell
victim himself. He had to try the giant mouse trap again. The poor bastard went
out dick in hand. A faulty triggering mechanism. He finally finished before his
gun went off though. I’m sure if he had to pick a way, it’d be while
masturbating.

I was out, about a days travel from the camp. It was nice to
get away from the normal, and just explore for a while. At the camp, we had
crops for food, so there was never really a reason to go scouting any more
except for medicine. So every now and
then I just had to get out.

Dusk was about an hour away when I walked up on an old
country house. Nothing too special. 2 stories, basic white with green trim.
Some type of ivy was growing up the walls and the years of landscape neglect
had it nearly hidden. Looks promising, so I let myself in the front door. Of
course had I known that it was poison ivy growing all up the fucking house I
would have taken better care at removing it before just jumping in. I swear,
sometimes it’s the stupidest things that make you regret waking up in the
morning.

And of course it was dark inside. Some light protruded
through the small gaps in the vines over the windows. My eyes just had to
adjust.

Kitchen would be the first stop. It’d been at least 12 hours
since I last ate, and famished was an understatement. It was astounding! The
kitchen looked as if it had been cleaned and kept up all these years. Even the
salt and pepper shaker were placed and full at the table. No dishes in the
sink, rotted meat or molded bread. It was the oasis in the desert. Now the
cupboard. When I opened the door, I swear a light straight from heaven washed
over me filling my soul with the warm love of the Holy Spirit. There in front
of me , from floor to ceiling, sat shelf upon shelf of canned and jarred foods.
It was enough food to feed the entire campsite for weeks, and plenty to feed
one person for half a lifetime. The site was that of a kid who was told he
could go crazy in an ice cream slash candy slash toy store. Before I even knew
what I was doing, 6 jars sat opened in front of me, and my mouth full to the
point of choking.

A good meal, now it was time to explore the rest of the
house. It was kept much the same as the kitchen. Clean, no dust, and everything
in its place. Odd and relaxing. Upstairs were the bedrooms. Beds made. Then
came a noise. From across the hall. It was a thump, then a moan. I froze in my
tracks.

“Hello?” I let out a whisper.

No answer. Then another thump followed by a moan. It sounded
like it was coming from the closet in what looked to be a teenage boys room. I
eased in, gun in hand. Thump then moan. The previous tenants must have locked
an Eater in the closet before cleaning everything up and getting out of town. A
bead of sweat caressed my cheek and made its way into my mouth. Left hand
extended and right holding my gun at shoulder height, I twisted the closet door
knob slowely. Jerking it open and jumping back, I saw what it was. A fucking
sex doll! I guess something had fallin on it and turned it on. My heart pounded
in my throat. Im pretty sure I died for a split second. My nerves gathered
themselves and I came back to reality. Then of course, I took advantage of the
opportunity at hand.

This place was heaven. All of my man pleasures taken care of
in one place, and no one around to judge me for indulging in 2 of the 7 sins. A
quick once over of the house, then it was bed time.

I felt eyes on me, that’s what woke me up. I couldn’t see
anything, or hear any movement. But I definitely felt like I was being watched.
Eyes wide, I lay and waited and waited. My finger on the trigger, ready for
anything. The room black, and so silent it was almost loud. There it was, long
hair brushing up against a neck. Without hesitation, in the direction of the
sound, I was able to press my gun against flesh. At the exact moment I felt the
cold edge of a steel blade rest against my neck.

“Who are you” the voice of a young woman whispering. “Why
are you in my house?”

I didn’t reply, the only thought that was in my head was whether
or not she saw what I did with the doll. And also, why the crap does she have a
sex doll. And lastly, was she hot?

“I asked you a question stranger. I suggest you answer.” The
blade pressed more firmly to my throat.

I cocked the hammer back on my pistol “I think we both just
need to relax.”

“You eat my food!”
her whispers grew more intense “You plunder through my house. And you do
unmentionable things to Shyan.”

“Shyan?”

“My best friend in the closet”

Shame, guilt and embarrassment washed over me. I was caught.
And how creepy is it that she watched?

“I didn’t”

How the hell did she know that’s what I was thinking? “How
the hell did you know what I was thinking?”

The sound of flint on metal then a small flame appeared. It
slowly rose until it illuminated both of our faces. She was young, maybe late
teens. Skin so pale, you could almost see through her. It looked as if she
hadn’t seen the sun since this all began. Straight, jet black, hair, and eyes
emerald green.

“Alright, look” I took a deep calming breath in “I’m sorry I
played with your doll-”

“Sasha”

“I’m sorry I played with Sasha” another relaxing breath in.
This chick was starting to rub me wrong. “I didn’t know anyone lived her okay?
I was an honest mistake.” The flame went out.

“What are you doing here?” She hadn’t removed the knife.

“I’m just passing b- shhhhhhh” Our conversation would have
to wait. We were no longer alone in the house. It was faint, almost as if a
mouse had done it, but those creaky stairs wouldn’t let any one sneak in hear
unnoticed. Then what sounded like cloth
brushing against the wall. Whatever was in here with us was moving fast.

We both lowered our weapons as the knob on the door twisted.
My eyes had adjusted to the lack of lighting, and the full moon shining a bit
into the room helped. Gun raised, cocked, and pointed at Eater head shooting
level.

The door opened just a crack, and everything after that was
hard to make out. I pulled the trigger, and missed. I never miss. What the
fuck? I swear it dodged the fucking bullet. And it was in the room. I hadn’t
quite made out what exactly it was yet. I know I saw decay, I know it smell
like an eater, but nothing about the way this thing is moving resembles an
Eater in any way. Its fast, and organized. Like it has a plan. I saw it on the
ceiling, on the freaking ceiling! Shoot, miss. I rolled away from whatever I
heard coming at me, then a sharp pain in my shoulder. The girl nowhere to be
seen. I shot again, I know I hit the bastard that time. Nope. Fuck!

Left to right, up then down. This thing was climbing the
walls and darting every which way so fast I almost couldn’t keep track. I made
it to my feet, and bolted towards the door. I heard the sound of metal wizzing
through the air again in my direction. Ducked, but now fast enough. Whatever it
was put a slice into the small of my back. What the hell was this thing. And
why the crap did it keep throwing things at me?

“Over here, hurry!” I heard the girl calling me from down
the hall. I slammed the door behind me and bolted in her direction. I could
hear the thing in the other room make its way to the door just as I made mine
to the girl. She disappeared again. What the hell?

Aim and shoot again as the bedroom door opened. Hit. But
only in the chest. That does me no good with an Eater. That’s when I notice
something shiny in its hand. A really long blade it looked like. A freaking
sword! An Eater with a sword! I almost
shit my pants. And then it advanced, fast, dodging every bullet I sent its way.
I [had lost. I knew at this moment I was gonna die. I wasted my last round into
the wall at the other end of the hallway, and a mother flipping Eater was
running at me with a goddamn japaneese sword raised above its head. I closed my
eyes and accepted my death. Just as my lids closed, I heard the boom from a
gun, and a plop of a body.

One eye closed, the other squinted open, I saw the limp body
of the monster that was after us. And then the girl step out of a crack in the
wall, smoking barrel in hand.

“I’m Beth by the way” she said as she blew the tip of the
gun.

Risks and challenges

The main risk is that I wont be able to ever sell a copy of this novel outside of the actual fund raising of this project.

The main challenges that will be faced is in the illustration of the novel its self. I plan to work side by side with another artist, and since I have trouble with this type of illustrating it may be hard to get exactly how I see the novel across to the other artist. I'm extremely picky, and have a lot of faith in this project, so getting it perfect is the only option.

There is a chance that creating a graphic novel such as this could take longer than expected. I really hope it doesn't, but with detailed illustrations sometimes one can get caught up and lose time.

Looking at worse case, there could be a delay on getting the physical copies of the novel printed and shipped on time. This largely depends on how many copies are actually reserved. I put a cap of a thousand on both the paper back and the hard cover for that reason. Of course the printing company still has the ball on how long it takes to actually print the copies. I am fairly confident that I have allowed enough time for all of the rewards to be fulfilled within the time promised. If we are faced with the worse case, I personally will notify everyone on the list that would be affected.

I'm really hoping that at the very least my story and novel will be reserved by enough people to make this project successful. After a successful campaign on Kickstarter, I plan to have more copies of the graphic novel printed up to be distributed through online and bookstores. It'll be a real gamble to put it in the world market, but if its interesting and attractive enough to be successful on Kickstarter it will be worth the risk in trying to sell it to the public as well.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $7 or more
About $7

Woot! Now we are movin up in the chain! So I take it you feel pretty good about this project? Me too. For this, you get the digital version of the short story, as well as a small poster of the cover art for the novel.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $20 or more
About $20

So now you have become a true fan of the Zombie Ninja concept. Ah young padiwon, you are now ready to receive the digital copy of both the short story as well as the digital version of the actual completed graphic novel "Zombie Ninjas" howaaaahhhhhh!!! Chop! Plus a signed poster of the cover art for the book.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $25 or more
About $25

You must really like either zombies or ninjas, I haven't figured you out all the way. So now you get the above, plus digital copy of the back stories of Caroline, K. Gunther, and Beth! These back stories will not be fully disclosed in the graphic novel but later released in their own graphic novel. The actual stories however will never be released, so you chosen few will be the only ones who own them.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $35 or more
About $35

You get the physical paper back graphic novel "Zombie Ninjas"!! As well as the digital version, plus the short story and a small poster of the cover art!! You will also be the first to see a sneak peak of the next graphic novel I plan to release. International please include $15 for shipping.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $40 or more
About $40

What what!? Hardcore believer in this. You have just upgraded to the hard cover of this wonderful wonderful graphic novel, plus all of the other good stuff listed in the box above. International please include $15 for shipping.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

The ultimate fan pack gold, You get 1 page from the novel hand drawn original, signed by the artist. You also get a cameo of yourself drawn into the novel, to be forever remembered. On top of this, you also get the poster signed and both paperback and hard cover copies of "Zombie Ninjas" signed. Oh, and yeah, the digital copy of the novel and short story. Plus an invite to the success and release party for the novel. (Travel and stay will not be included.)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $5,000 or more
About $5,000

The ultimate fan pack Platinum!! You have just gotten yourself written into "Zombie Ninjas" as a full supporting role!! This will be a character that is featured in the graphic novel for a large portion of the novel. Not just someone that gets killed 2 pages later, but someone that has a full influence of the novel as well as the other characters within it. On top of this, you will also receive the paperback and hard copy books, signed. The poster, signed. The digital copies of the novel and short story. As well as 5 more copies of the hard cover to give to your family, 4 more copies of the paper back to give to your friends. As well as a hand drawn poster or your character alongside the other main characters of the story, signed. And an all expense paid trip to the party celebrating the success and release of the graphic novel!! ( Three days, Two nights, 3 meals, hotel, and travel will be paid)